This invention relates in general to dental implements, and more particularly to dental handpieces having turbine engines.
The conventional dental handpiece of current manufacture possesses a handle, a shank of somewhat smaller diameter projected from the forward end of the handle at a slight angle, and turbine engine at the forward end of the shank. The turbine engine, to which the surgical or dental bur attaches, rotates about an axis that is perpendicular to the axis of the shank. While this angle is suitable for many dental procedures, it is awkward for others, particularly those involving the second and third molars at the back of the mouth and the distal areas of other teeth. For example, in order to extract an impacted third molar, the tooth is normally cut into segments with a surgical bur and these segments removed individually from their bony sockets. However, the roots of impacted third molars are practically inaccessible to a bur that is oriented at 90.degree. with respect to its shank, and as a consequence impacted third molars are extremely difficult to extract. Similarly distal cavities in the second and third molars are not easily prepared for filling with conventional 90.degree. handpieces. Usually such cavities are approached from the occlusal or chewing surfaces, and this often requires the removal of a considerable amount of healthy tooth structure to reach the decayed structure. Moreover, even those dental procedures which can be effectively performed with 90.degree. handpieces, can often be more easily performed with a handpiece having its angle tailored to the particular procedure. Indeed, for each dental procedure an optimum angle exists for the handpiece, and this angle is more often than not some angle other than 90.degree.. Thus, the conventional 90.degree. handpiece is not ideally suited for most dental procedures.
Aside from the foregoing, turbine-type dental engines of current manufacture have relatively low torque and therefore the handpiece must be manipulated quite adroitly to maintain the engine at an acceptable operating speed. With greater torque many procedures requiring the use of dental handpieces could be shortened considerably.